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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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The Healthcare Conundrum
I did some research on this forum before posting this question, so please forgive me if the topic has been covered before. When I retire (hopefully 6
or 7 years from now) I will have access to savings and 401K distributions, but will no longer be covered by my company's healthcare benefits. It
seems that many retired ex-pats on this forum split their years between Mexico and either the U.S. or Canada, making use of Mexico's health care for
minor injuries and the like, but deferring elective surgery and other procedures for trips to the U.S. Is this an accurate observation? If that's
the case, I'll have to decide whether to pay out of pocket in the U.S. or to purchase some sort of private health insurance, which I expect will be a
tall order when I'm over 60.
I'd be interested to find out the experiences and perspectives of others on this forum. And thanks!
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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Are you a veteran? Many of us are and have VA care.
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pauldavidmena
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@DENNIS - I'm not a veteran myself, although I do have a son in the Marines. 
I work in the computer field - good salary and benefits as long as I'm working, but no pension or post-retirement health insurance afterward. My wife
and I are in good health, but we do know that things happen and would never try to get by on luck alone.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
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Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
@DENNIS - I'm not a veteran myself, although I do have a son in the Marines.
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Will you fit in his uniform?  Jes kiddin'.
Well....a lot will depend on where you end up in Baja. The further away from the border you are, the more you have to consider the local option.
As soon as you get Medicare age, you can get hooked up with an HMO.
Someone here from down south should be adding to this as soon as they see it.
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pauldavidmena
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Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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We're looking to move to Todos Santos or thereabouts - certainly no further north than La Paz, but definitely north of Los Cabos.
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18145
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
I did some research on this forum before posting this question, so please forgive me if the topic has been covered before. When I retire (hopefully 6
or 7 years from now) I will have access to savings and 401K distributions, but will no longer be covered by my company's healthcare benefits. It
seems that many retired ex-pats on this forum split their years between Mexico and either the U.S. or Canada, making use of Mexico's health care for
minor injuries and the like, but deferring elective surgery and other procedures for trips to the U.S. Is this an accurate observation? If that's
the case, I'll have to decide whether to pay out of pocket in the U.S. or to purchase some sort of private health insurance, which I expect will be a
tall order when I'm over 60.
I'd be interested to find out the experiences and perspectives of others on this forum. And thanks! |
Individual non-medicare coverage/rates is in flux this year. Calif just published draft insurance rates for the coming-soon health care exchange. If
you go to Covered California website you can use their calculator to estimate your 2014 insurance rates,... an indication of what individual insurance
will cost after obamacare kicks in. I was surprised to see pretty affordable rates, certainly more affordable than individual rates today.
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Bajatripper
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Posts: 3148
Registered: 3-20-2010
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I made use of Seguro Popular, which is a government program, while living in La Paz. Until two years ago, it was a single price for the entire family
and based on your income. But recent changes indicated that it was going to a per-person annual charge instead. The down side of this program is that
you have to wait in some pretty long lines to be seen for routine things, and some of the doctors aren't the most qualified. But, if all you need is a
prescription for drugs or something minor, it can have its uses.
I also use to get the occasional solicitation phone call from local health care groups that aim at the foreign retiree market. I believe one operated
out of Los Barriles. So you'd have those types of options, too. As Dennis said, someone from down there should be posting more info shortly.
There most certainly is but one side to every story: the TRUTH. Variations of it are nothing but lies.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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By way of full disclosure, some of the what I've read on this subject comes from "The Best How-To Book on Moving to Mexico" by Rolly Brook, Carol
Schmidt and Norma Hair, but hearing a uniquely Baja perspective would be extremely valuable.
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
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Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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I can offer little but opinion and experience...
Too many times I have been told to go to Guadalajara, Mexico, or to the USA. An operation that with rehab that cost a quarter of a million in the USA
2 years ago would have "only" cost me $18,000 in Mexico. But in Mexico City. Where there is NO recourse for botched surgeries. Or analgesics stronger
than Tylenol and codeine.
Getting to San Diego is FASTER than deep within the mainland, and from personal experience I can tell you when I went north in an ambulance I crossed
at San Ysidro in so short a time (I timed it) it may have set a record. One minute seventeen seconds, ambulance to ambulance, flashed CBP my passport.
Nobody screwed around. I remain highly impressed.
Unlike the veterinarian grade medical facilities in Nogales or El Pazo®, Chula Vista and San Diego are top tier. Been there done that, on the mainland
it's a long way to an international airport, and then there is never a flight to where you want to go when you need to.
SEGURO POPULAR insurance is good enough for me to get patched up enough to haul don-kee north to the border.
In Mexico, you ain't getting out of the hospital unless you have coverage or a radioactive grade credit card. They PHYSICALLY prevent you from leaving
until payment arrangements have satisfied them. This can get dicey with a ten thousand dollar plus hospital stay. This comes from real-life
it-happened-to-me in La Paz in 2011 at Seguro Popular so save your breath.
SEGURO POPULAR and my HMO north is the way I chose. The medical center I use in Chula Vista has more equipment in it than half of Mexico.
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
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Mood: thriving in Baja
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Once you are old enough to be on Medicare the Kaiser HMO facility in Chula Vista will accept that as full payment for annual membership. After that
you only pay a co-payment that is $15 for a doctor visit and $30 for lab, x-ray, MRI, etc. A hospital stay is $200 per night.
PS: You do need to maintain a US address within there operating area but a Postal Mail Box will work.
[Edited on 5-28-2013 by durrelllrobert]
Bob Durrell
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Thank you for the informative replies. Please keep them coming!
While the details are likely to change several times between now and then, once I retire, our Master Plan is to close up shop in New England and split
time between BCS and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (where my wife grew up and a whole lot less expensive than New England). Truth be told, I
haven't thought as much about post-retirement health insurance as I have my 401K and retirement destinations, so perhaps I should do that before I
actually need it...
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
perhaps I should do that before I actually need it... |
Good idea. Being unprepared in an emergency can be a wipeout.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
perhaps I should do that before I actually need it... |
Good idea. Being unprepared in an emergency can be a wipeout. |
Thanks. I'm only 53, but if I'm old enough to ask questions about where I'm going to retire, I suppose I'm old enough to think about Medicare as
well. I won't be eligible until I'm 65, but I doubt that I can survive in the computer field until then. Perhaps I can find some "bridge" between
when I retire and when I'm eligible...
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EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
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Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
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Seguro Popular is a good program, and I would certainly sign up for it while living in Mexico. I knew of an American veteran who had many major
surgeries under this program in Mexico and was quite satisfied. As someone mentioned, there might be a charge in certain areas but another satisfied
American patient in Ensenada who is currently under treatment for breast cancer in Tijuana is very thankful for the program because she does not pay
for her chemotherapy/radiation treatments and is worried that the regulations will be changed for Americans but so far they haven't. If you don't
have the money for private hospitalization down here, it's a good bet. Things are improving in the health care field, with better technology and
equipment, slowly but surely. I was surprised to see the very attractive Hospital General Tijuana building, but I have not been inside. I have a
fellow classmate who is doing her Gynecology residency there and she seems quite happy.
[Edited on 5-29-2013 by EnsenadaDr]
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EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
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Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
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As a transplanted New Englander myself, the weather change is heavenly!! Where are you living now? | Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
@DENNIS - I'm not a veteran myself, although I do have a son in the Marines.
I work in the computer field - good salary and benefits as long as I'm working, but no pension or post-retirement health insurance afterward. My wife
and I are in good health, but we do know that things happen and would never try to get by on luck alone. |
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by EnsenadaDr
As a transplanted New Englander myself, the weather change is heavenly!! Where are you living now? |
@EnsenadaDr - Thank you for your reply!
I live in Cochituate, MA, about 15 miles west of Boston and 2 miles east of Framingham. The weather is lovely for 6 months a year, and brutal for the
other 6.
I've read reasonably good things about Seguro Popular, and it seems like a good safety net for bumps and bruises and occasional emergencies. The
question for me is, what is the availability in the "Deep South" of Baja, for example Todos Santos? I know that there is a St. Luke's Clinic in town,
but I know nothing about the level of care, the relationship with the various Mexican health insurance programs, etc. It will be one thing to be
visiting the E.R. as a tourist over the next few years, but I imagine there will be differences as a resident.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
I've read reasonably good things about Seguro Popular, and it seems like a good safety net for bumps and bruises and occasional emergencies. The
question for me is, what is the availability in the "Deep South" of Baja, for example Todos Santos? I know that there is a St. Luke's Clinic in town,
but I know nothing about the level of care, the relationship with the various Mexican health insurance programs, etc. It will be one thing to be
visiting the E.R. as a tourist over the next few years, but I imagine there will be differences as a resident. |
Lo and behold: a slick looking website - complete with testimonials - from St. Luke's Clinic in Todos Santos here.
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EnsenadaDr
Banned
Posts: 5027
Registered: 9-12-2011
Location: Baja California
Member Is Offline
Mood: Move on. It is just a chapter in the past, but don't close the book- just turn the page
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Here's my advice. Go down to the area you might want to live in. Spend a week or two on your vacation and see if this is the area you like. You
never know unless you live there how you will feel. There are Seguro Popular hospitals in all areas, however, St. Luke's looks like a private
hospital, and Seguro Popular is not accepted in every hospital, it has its own hospitals. You don't want to get tangled up in a private hospital
unless you want your credit card tied up to the max to get out of the place. Find where you want to retire first, then go from there.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1712
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by EnsenadaDr
Here's my advice. Go down to the area you might want to live in. Spend a week or two on your vacation and see if this is the area you like. You
never know unless you live there how you will feel. There are Seguro Popular hospitals in all areas, however, St. Luke's looks like a private
hospital, and Seguro Popular is not accepted in every hospital, it has its own hospitals. You don't want to get tangled up in a private hospital
unless you want your credit card tied up to the max to get out of the place. Find where you want to retire first, then go from there.
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@EnsenadaDr - thank you for your sage advice. We will be spending a week in Todos Santos in July in order to check it out during the low season, to
find out how easy or difficult it is to prepare our own meals, etc.
I should have realized that St. Luke's is a private hospital. Again, that's the difference between being a tourist with a credit card and a retiree
on a fixed income. I'll need to make that adjustment soon enough, but I should do my research well before that. It looks like this website provides information about the locations and facilities of Seguro Popular throughout the country. Now to work on my Spanish...
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DavidE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3814
Registered: 12-1-2003
Location: Baja California México
Member Is Offline
Mood: 'At home we demand facts and get them. In Mexico one subsists on rumor and never demands anything.' Charles Flandrau,
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Superb idea. I've had Mexican doctors "no entiende español suddenly when faced with a question they did not wish to address. Confident Spanish is a
plus. I had one male nurse so stubborn I had to yell "¿Entiendes español?" to get him to respond with a red face. The rest of the enfermeros were
laughing their rear off. He had been propping up a wall for a half hour en chisme and I needed to get out of bed. Asking politely six times the
previous half hour didn't seem to work.
The Shortfall in the formulary of medication in Seguro Popular did not impress me either. Meaning the range and scope of medications. Having to have
-someone- run across the street and purchase (of course out of pocket) medicamentos de patente, priced ten times higher than a discount pharmacy also
did not tickle my funny bone. Medicine priced more expensive than at a Walgreens in the USA.
Stabilization, Seguro Popular. Then Adios!
A Lot To See And A Lot To Do
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